The protests were held on October 22 by the people in PoK at Bhimber, Kotli, Muzaffarabad, Mirpur and other places.

According to reports, which emerged days after the protests and the crackdown, protestors from the Jammu and Kashmir National Students Federation demanded that Islamabad’s forces must leave the region.

The peaceful protestors were met by the batons of the Pakistani security forces. The security forces also fired tear gas shells at the protestors and arrested many.

But that was not the only things done to suppress the agitation.

Islamabad forced the press not to cover the agitation, which is why the news of it arrived five days after the crackdown.

Gagging the press is easy and common in Pakistan unlike India, where the unrest in Kashmir Valley – instigated by Islamabad – was covered widely in the country and even by the international media. And this is the key difference in the press between Pakistan and India.

According to Freedom House’s Freedom of Press Index 2016, India ranks somewhat better than Pakistan. While India’s press is relatively free – as can be seen in the coverage of the Kashmir unrest – Pakistan’s press is totally under the thumb of their government and Army-ISI nexus.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been trying to divert attention from the atrocities committed by the Pakistani Army on the people of PoK and Balochistan by pointing at the unrest in the Kashmir Valley. In doing so,